We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lacey Tomlinson And Sara Kelly. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lacey Tomlinson and Sara Kelly below.

Alright, Lacey Tomlinson and Sara Kelly thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later

Lacey- “I would not have started a business earlier because growing up my dad owned a Wendy’s franchise and he would get calls at 2 am if there was a security thing. He was always on call. And I remember thinking- I don’t want that. So in my mind I wasn’t going to own a business. I realize looking back that I had a very specific view of what a business would look like and didn’t realize it could look different.
And now, it’s funny because we have been starting our business for a couple years now, and I am grateful that we have been because I unexpectedly had a baby. I am in such a different place now. And the entire way we have agreed to not push when it feels wrong, and this timing has worked out. So I can’t imagine having done it sooner.”

Sara- “Funnily enough, my parents owned a small business when I was young as well. And I, too, thought I would never own a business because of what I saw them go thru. But owning a business today can look so differently.
And the Practical Hug couldn’t have started any earlier because the consulting work I was doing laid the foundation for all of the tools that we now share. It was only from using the tools repeatedly with clients that I knew they worked, and I was using the tools to help myself as well.
So there is no way the business could have started sooner because I didn’t have that learned experience to bring to the table.”

We both agreed- “And we are glad that the business has taken time to evolve. Through the trying, testing, and evolving we have been able to create exactly what we want now with the technology available to us. And we didn’t have those tools previously.”

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

Practical Hug is Lacey and Sara, and the extension of the support we were able to provide for one another in practical and emotional ways we had not experienced before. We saw that this support could be helpful to others, and we strive every day to make life just a little bit easier and a little bit more enjoyable.

We are solving that gap of support, which is giving and receiving support in a way that doesn’t feel like an obligation or a drain. Practical Hug solves that problem of giving and receiving support in a low lift way. We are giving a very clear framework of tools and what you can do. Never what you ‘should’ do.

Think of a self help book, take aways; reading it by yourself, the lengthy chapters, the ‘do these 10 things to get this specific result’.
And replace it with; short, digestible learning segments (written, video, audio), supportive wording ‘here is something to try’, and a community of like minded people to talk about it with.

It’s practical and emotional support that can be self-help, and done together.

How’d you meet your business partner?

Lacey- “Sara and I met in a virtual, national, working mom, networking group. I had joined because a friend recommended it to me knowing I had worked in a large organization with lots of co-workers. Then I went to a full remote job, to a hybrid job with one other person. I was really missing connection. This networking group seemed like a good fit for me. Sara and I took a human design course together from a mom in that group, but we didn’t really meet there.”

Sara- “I joined the networking group because I was a solopreneur and was super lonely. I wanted to be with other women and have that connection. Then I joined the human design group because I was so burned out and I thought, let me try this before I shut everything down as a last ditch effort.”

Lacey- “After that course had ended, I put a call out in the group asking for business buddies because I wanted a structured experience with other people. Some accountability, some place to vent, that kind of stuff. We had 5 people in the beginning. After awhile it eventually was just me and Sara. Then one day she asked for my help with a course. I read the content and came back saying ‘This is bigger than just a course. We need to do something with this.’

Sara- “I remember that day. I wanted to create this course because I was saying the same things to people in my consulting work, and I wanted to help more people by making an accessible course. I turned to Lacey because she had the skills to make what I needed. It felt vulnerable to admit- I can’t do this all, I need help. Then when Lacey came back and said this is bigger, I thought – yeah, but I’m so tired. But together we were able to utilize our own strengths to do more than either of us could have done alone.

And I think we need to put an asterisk by the word ‘met’. We have never met in real life. Lacey is in Ohio and I am in New York. We’ve worked together over these years with virtual meetings, text messaging and voice notes.”

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

For four years, Lacey and I have been putting in our own money to build Practical Hug because we believe in our mission. We both have worked other jobs, and we take those profits to pay for this. It has been all bootstraps.

What was really exciting, was that after 3 years we had an anonymous angel investor step forward and say- ‘I see what you are doing. I see the importance of it, and I want this to grow.’ That was big for us, not only to have funding to pay for all the business expenses, but also to have someone believe in our work and see what we are doing, to see the impact we are trying to create. It was a great reminder to keep going because building a business isn’t always easy.

And we also feel like we have a little more breathing room to be authentic. Instead of the pressure to sell, sell, sell to cover our costs, we can be more authentic and create something really special and long lasting.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.PracticalHug.com
• Instagram: @PracticalHug
• Facebook: @PracticalHug
• Linkedin: Practical Hug
• Youtube: Practical Hug
• Other: Substack: The Practical Hug
  TikTok: @PracticalHug